1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a conveyor robot namely for the manipulation and transport of an object along a specified path.
2. Description of Related Art
Robots are already known from the prior art for the manipulation of objects. These robots contain a manipulator arm that is mobile along three axes in space. Generally, this arm is motorized by three motor structures constructed based on a kinematic configuration called an open chain. The first of these structures ensures the displacement of the manipulation arm along a first horizontal axis, the second structure along a second horizontal axis normal to the first one, and the third along a vertical axis. The main disadvantages of these structures rest in their complexity and in their high cost.
The purpose of the invention presented here is to compensate for the disadvantages mentioned by implementing a, manipulator robot having an excellent efficiency while having a simplified design and a low cost.
For this purpose, the manipulator robot according to the present invention contains a manipulator arm that can be moved by a first motor piloted by a command and control unit, whereby the first motor and the unit are installed in a frame mounted on the running gears. This robot is characterized essentially in that:
the first motor is equipped with a rotary output shaft on which a mechanical torque is applied,
the manipulator arm is affixed by one of its ends to a hub provided with an axial internal screw threading in which the threaded part of a drive shaft, which is coupled to the rotary output shaft of the first motor, is engaged by being screwed in,
it is provided with a brake gear that is connected to the hub and to the drive shaft, this brake gear ensuring the immobilization of the hub relative to the drive shaft while the resistance torque exerted on the arm or on the hub is less than a predetermined value, and this gear allowing the rotation of the hub relative to the drive shaft while this resistance torque is equal to this value; and
it is provided with a mechanism for locking in rotation activated by the command and control unit in order to lock the rotation of the hub and the arm, this mechanism while it is activated acting to lock on the hub and/or on the arm, the aforementioned arm being thus able to be moved in translation relative to the chassis by activation of the first motor.
Thus, this device makes it possible to avoid the use of a third motor for the displacement of the arm in translation. The first motor ensures the displacement of the arm in rotation while the brake gear is deactivated and its drive in translation when this gear is activated.
According to another characteristic of the invention:
the axial internal threading made in the hub is extended axially by a smooth bore,
the drive shaft, in the axial extension of its threaded part, is equipped with a smooth bearing surface engaged in the smooth bore of the hub; and
the brake gear is made by a stopper of a synthetic material engaged in a radial hole made in the hub and opening into the axial bore of it, this stopper being held under pressure against the smooth bearing surface of the drive shaft.
The invention presented here also has the purpose of a system that is essentially characterized in that it is equipped with at least one robot according to the invention.
According to another characteristic of the invention, the system consists of at least one distribution station for solid and/or liquid material by dosed quantities as well as at least one processing station, these different stations being arranged one after the other relative to at least one track on which the robot maneuvers.